maybe this just my browser...if I am reading a topic and click to view someone's profile, I can't get back to the topic using the browser's back button. I have to follow the 'topics' link and then try and remember which topic I was in.

Your browser is very old. I'd recommend upgrading. It sounds to me like this might happen only if you've posted before you click off the topic. I'd recommend not using the back button. Instead, when you click the member's profile link, hold down the Command (Apple) key and the link will open in a new tab or window.

Any chance of moving the navigation links that are below the "New Post" section to above the "New Post" section? Since I use the "next" function far more often than posting a new message, it would reduce the amount of scrolling I have to do to get to the "next" link.

This isn't a big problem but curious nonetheless. When I select a topic in the list and it takes me to the particular site, if for instance the topic has 16 pages to it-with a most recent post, say, four hours ago-I am instead taken to, say, page 9 with posts that are a week and a half old instead of the most recent (or heck, even if it took me to the beginning with the very first posts would make more sense).

Alan, the system remembers where you were last reading, so it takes you to the last 3 posts you have read and shows you new ones following on from them. You'll see the first 3 posts will be grey (meaning you've read them) and the rest on that page will be white, meaning they're new to you.